Lima

I hadn't heard great things about Lima, but I got bored in Ica and decided to leave a day early. Sandboarding really wasn't that great, and it certainly didn't help that the equipment was terrible. Turning was impossible due to the lack of an edge and proper heel support. As advertised the buggy ride leading up to the sandboarding was insane. I took a short video, but I'm not sure how it came out.

Prior to Ica, I went up in a plane to see the Nazca lines which are huge even from the plane. I took pictures, which I'll post on facebook. This ride was not for those who get motion sickness. The pilot was diving and circling the lines at high speeds such that I was dizzy and had a headache by the end.

Since arriving in Lima last night, I did a little shopping in some of the markets and gave surfing a try this afternoon. Man is that hard and cold. September is still considered the winter months in Peru so I wore a full wet suit. I can't quite stand up yet given the 1 hour lesson I received in extremely poor English. However, I plan on going back tomorrow before I leave for another try. Where else can I surf for 2 hours for under $20?

Cool your jets!

I´ve been pretty busy taking awesome 12 hour bus rides lately, so it has been difficult to provide frequent updates. Regardless, the salt plains where really cool. I stayed overnight in the ¨salt hotel¨, which is much like the ice hotel in Iceland, but not as good and made almost entirely of salt. During the trip, we visited various lagoons (green, black and red) and saw some pink flamingos.

Since the salt plains are near the town of Uyuni, I had to take a terrible 10 hour bus ride back to La Paz. Once there I went to a suit shop and had a custom suit and overcoat made which turned out great. After that, I pretty much just bummed around town. In the evening, I went drinking with some people I met in Uyuni and left for Arequipa the next morning (hence the 12 hour bus ride). Since arriving in Arequipa, I haven´t done a whole lot. I went rafting and did a little biking while visiting a really cool monastery.

Tonight I leave for Nazca to go see the famous ¨Nazca lines¨(I booked a flight to go over them)followed by a visit to Ica where I´ll be trying to sandboard (like snowboarding but on sand) and going for a dune buggy ride!

Well, that pretty much wraps up my trip....how depressing.

PO